Pawl and ratchet actuated roller type tube bender



June 2 4, 1958 PAWL AND RATCHET AQTUATED ROLLER TYPE TUBE BENDER J. S.BUCKWALTER ETAL Filed April 15, 1955 IN VEN TORS 4/4606 5 Ham W41 75 (:4/12; Will/M6674 ATTCI RN EYE United States Patent Oflice Patented June2.4, 1958 PAWL AND RATCHET ACTUATED ROLLER TYPE TUBE BENDER Jacob S.Buckwalter and Clyde Mellinger, Lititz, Pa.

Application April 15, 1955, Serial No. 591,508

6 Claims. (Cl. 8115) This invention relates to tube and pipe bendingtools wherein tubes are bent over an anvil or areuate body with a pairof rollers, and in particular, a substantially semi-circular bodymounted on a stationary lever and having a groove, arcuate in crosssection, in the peripheral surface and a pair of rollers carried by anarm extended from a ratchet whereby with the ratchet, arm, and rollersactuated by a pawl on a hand lever the tube is rolled into the arcuategroove and with an end of the tube held by a bracket the tube is adaptedto be formed over the arcuate body.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a tube bending tool that isportable and that is adapted to be used in making installations ofconduits and other tubing thereby obviating the necessity of carryingthe tubing back and forth to a shop or the like.

Various types of pipe and tube bending plates and other tools have beenprovided for bending tubing to different radii, however, in numerousinstances, it is desired to bend a piece of tubing on the job whereinthe tube may readily be'installed in a particular location without theusual loss of time in carrying or sending the tube to a shop or thelike. With this thought in mind, this invention contemplates a toolhaving a body with an arcuate groove formed on a radius from the centerwith a pair of rollers pivotally mounted on-the body for rolling thetube into the groove and a hand lever actuated ratchet assembly adaptedto arcuate the rollers.

The object of this invention is, therefore, to provide means for forminga tube bende whereby an end of a tube may readily be inserted thereinandthe tube bent with a pair of rollers actuated by a ratchet and handlever assembly.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tube bending tool inwhich the tube is formed with a pair of rollers actuated by a hand leverand ratchet assembly in which the rollers and an arm upon which therollers are mounted are adapted to be removed to facilitate inserting atube in, the tool and also, to facilitate removing the tube from thetool.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved portabletube bender which is of a simple and economical construction.

With these and other objects and advantages in view, theinvention,ternbodies a plate having a substantially semi-circularendsurface with a flange extended from one side thereof and with the innersurface of the flange forming the arcuate tube receiving recess, aratchet Wheel rotatably mounted on the body, a bracket extended from thebody for retaining one end of a tube in position, a stationary leveralso extended from the body, a pair of rollers carried by an arm freelypositiouedon the ratchet Wheel andada'pted to travel in a circleconcentric with the substantially semi-circular end surface of the body,a hand lever pivotally mounted on the body, a pawl pivotally mountedonthe hand lever and positioned to coact with teeth of the ratchet wheeland a spring for urging the pawl into engagement with said teeth of theratchet wheel.

Other features and advantages of-theinvention will appear from thefollowing description, taken in connec tion with the drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the improved tube bender, partsof the stationary and hand levers being broken away.

Figure 2 is an end elevational view taken on line 22 of Figure 1 withthe stationary and hand levers shown in section and showing a portion ofa tube in the upper part of the device.

Figure 3 is a vertical section through the tube bender taken on line 3-3of Figure 1 also showing a-tube in the upper part of the device.

Figure 4 is an exploded view showing the body of the tube bender insection with the roller carrying arm mounted on the ratchet wheel spacedfrom the body and with the hand lever and pawl assembly positionedbetween the ratchet wheel and body. a

Figure 5 is a view showing a front elevation of the body and showing anattachment adapted to be mounted on the body for bending a tube to alarger diameter.

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken on line 66 of Figure 5 alsoillustrating the attachment for bending a tube on a larger radius.

Referring now to the drawing, wherein like reference characters denotecorresponding parts, the'improved tube bender of this invention includesa body 10 having a substantially semi-circular flange 11 extended fromthe edge on one side thereof, the flange having a. groove or recess alsosubstantially semi-circular in cross section in the outer surface asindicated by the numeral 12, a ratchet wheel 13 positioned on one sideof the body, an arm 14 having rollers 15 and 16 rotatably mounted in theouter end temporarily mounted by screws 17 and 18 onthe body 10, a pawl19 pivotally mounted on a hand lever 20, a bracket 21 for holding atube, such as the tube 22, and a stationary lever 23 extendedfrom thebody and secured thereto with fasteners, such as the rivets 24.

The body 10 is formed of a substantially flat'plate with the arcuateflange 11 extended from'one side and the intermediate part of thebody'is provided with an an nular ring 25 that is concentric with a boss.26 through which a threaded opening 27 extends. The opening 27 ispositioned to receive a threaded stud 28'extended from a shoulder 29 andwith the stud 28 threaded into the opening 27 the ratchet wheel 13 isrotatably mounted on the shoulder 29 with the inner surface bearingagainst the outer surface of the ring 25,

The stud is also provided with a head 30 that is positioned in anopening 31 in the lower partof -'the arm 14 whereby the arm with therollers 15 and 16 thereon is readily adapted to be removed tofacilitateremoving and replacing tubes.

The arm 14 is also provided with arcuate slots 32 and 33 which arepositioned to receive shanks 34 and-35 of screws 36 and 37,respectively, whereby the arm is adapted to be positioned with theopening 31 over-the head of the stud 30 and turned in acounter-clockwise direction to place the slots 3-2 and 33 over theshanks 34 and 35 of the screws. With the parts mounted iiithis manner,the heads of the screws retain the arm in position in the bendingoperation of a tube.

The stud 28 extends through the threaded opening 27 and a lock nut 38positioned on the extended end of the stud secures the parts inposition- A similar stud.i39 threaded in an opening 40 in the lower-partof the body and provided with a lock nut 41 provides a pivotal mountingfor the hand lever 20, the head 42 of the stud being positioned on theouter surface of -the lever--and pro 3 viding means for retaining thelever in position upon the stud.

The hand lever 20 is also provided with a threaded opening, asindicatedby the numeral 43, and a stud 44, threaded in the opening 43' and havinga head 45, provides a. pivotal mounting for the pawl 19 whereby the pawlis positioned to engage teeth 46 of the ratchet wheel 13 so that withthe pawl retained in engagement with the teeth by a spring 47 theratchet wheel and arm 14 mounted thereon are adapted to be rotated in aclockwise direction upon reciprocation of the hand lever 20. Thespring47 is mounted in a stud 48 on the end of the hand lever and the oppositeend is formed to extend into a notch 49 in the outer surface of thepawl.

The upper end of the arm 14 is L-shaped, as illustrated in Figure l, andthe roller 16 is rotatably mounted on a stud 50, similar to the studupon which the roller 15 is mounted, the studs being provided withcylindrical shanks 51 upon which the rollers are posiitoned and heads 52for retaining the rollers in position upon the shanks. The threadedstuds are also provided with lock nuts, as indi cated by the numeral 53.The stud on which the roller 16 is rotatably mounted is positioned in asection 54 extended from the upper end of the arm 14.

The stationary lever 23 is secured to the body with suitable fasteners,such as the rivets 24, and, as illustrated in Figure 1, two of therivets 24 also secure the arcuate bracket 21 to the body, the lowerportion 55 of the bracket being positioned to receive the rivets, asshown in Figures 1 and 2.

As illustrated in Figures 5 and 6, an attachment having a substantiallysemi-circular section 56 is secured to the body with bolts 57, 58 and59, the bolts being positioned to extend through ears 60, 61 and 62,respectively, and, as illustrated in Figure 6, the plate 56 is providedwith an arcuate flange 63, similar to the flange 11, the flange 63having a recess, arcuate in cross section, as indicated by the numeral64, in the outer surface.

In using the attachment illustrated in Figures 5 and 6, the arm 14 isreplaced with an arm of greater length whereby a tube may be bent upon alarger radius, and it will be understood that the tube bender may beprovided with dies and rollers of ditferent sizes to facilitate bendingtubes of different diameters and on different radii.

In using the pipe or tube bender, thearm 14 with the rollers and 16 isremoved and after placing a tube, such as the tube 22, in the recess or'groove 12 with one end extended below the arcuate flange or bracket 21the arm 14 and rollers are replaced and the hand lever actuated wherebythe rollers15 and 16 bend the tube, into the recess or groove 12. Inusing a pair of rollers, it will be noted that the roller 16 firststarts the bending action and as the movement continues the roller 15follows the slight bend of the roller 16 forcing the tube into therecess or groove 12 whereby a complete bend is obtained.

Upon completion of the bend and after releasing the pawl 19, the ratchetWheel 13 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction, withdrawing thepins 17 and 18 from the slots 32 and 33, whereby the arm 14 with therollers 15 and 16 thereon is adapted to be removed so that the tube withthe bend formed therein may be removed from the machine.

It will be understood that modifications, within the scope of theappended claims, may be made in the design and arrangement of the partswithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A tube bender comprising a plate providing a body and said bodyhaving an arcuate edge with a groove arcuate in cross section in saidedge, a toothed ratchet wheel rotatably mounted on said body, a pair ofrollers carried by an arm removably attached to said ratchet wheel andpositioned to roll a tube into the groove in the end surface of thebody, a hand lever pivotally mounted on said body, a pawl pivotallymounted on said hand lever and positioned to engage teeth of the ratchetwheel, and resilient means for urging the pawl into engagement with saidteeth of the ratchet wheel.

2. A tube bender comprising a plate providing a body and said bodyhaving an arcuate edge with a groove arcuate in cross section in saidedge, a bracket extended from said body for retaining a tube in positionin the groove of the end surface of the body, a toothed ratchet wheelrotatably mounted on said body, a pair of rollers carried by an armremovably attached to said ratchet wheel and positioned to roll a tubeinto the groove in the end surface of the body, a hand lever pivotallymounted on said body, a pawl pivotally mounted on said hand lever andpositioned to engage teeth of the ratchet wheel, and resilient means forurging the pawl into engagement with said teeth of the ratchet wheel.

3. A tube bender comprising a plate providing a body and said bodyhaving an arcuate edge with a groove arcuate in cross section in saidedge, a bracket extended from said body for retaining a tube in positionin the groove of the end surface of the body, a stationary leverextended from said body providing a handle, a toothed ratchet wheelrotatably mounted on said body, a pair of rollers carried by an armremovably attached to said ratchet wheel and positioned to roll a tubeinto the groove in the end surface of the body, a hand lever pivotallymounted on said body, a pawl pivotally mounted on said hand lever andpositioned to engage teeth of the ratchet wheel, and resilient means forurging the pawl into engagement with said teeth of the ratchet wheel.

4. In a tube bender, the combination which comprises a plate having asubstantially semi-circular edge with a flange forming part of a groove,substantially semi-circular in cross section extended from one sideedge, a lever providing a stationary handle extended from said body, abracket having an arcuate tube holding extended end also mounted on saidbody, a toothed ratchet wheel rotatably mounted on said body andpositioned with the axis thereof on the center of the radius of thesemi-circular edge of the body, an arm having spaced rollers rotatablymounted on an extended end thereof and removably mounted on said ratchetwheel, a hand lever pivotally mounted on the body and extendedtherefrom, a pawl pivotally mounted on the hand lever and positioned toengage teeth of the ratchet wheel, and a spring mounted on the handlever and positioned to engage the pawl to urge the pawl into engagementwith the teeth of the ratchet wheel.

5. In a tube bender, the combination which comprises a plate having asubstantially semi-circular edge with a flange forming part of a groove,substantially semi-circular in cross section extended from one sideedge, a lever providing a stationary handle extended from said body, abracket having an arcuate tube holding extended end also mounted on saidbody, a toothed ratchet wheel rotatably mounted on said body andpositioned with the axis thereof on the center of the radius of thesemi-circular edge of the body, studs having heads thereon extended fromsaid ratchet wheel, an arm having notches in the sides positionedwhereby the notches receive the studs of the ratchet wheel, said armhaving spaced rollers rotatably mounted on the outer end of the arm andpositioned with the rollers thereof adapted to coact with the groove inthe edge of the body for rolling a tube retained in position by thebracket, a hand lever pivotally mounted on the body and extendedtherefrom, a pawl pivotally mounted on the hand lever and positioned toengage teeth of the ratchet wheel, and a spring mounted on the handlever and positioned to engage the pawl to urge the pawl into engagementwith the teeth of the ratchet wheel.

6. In a tube bender, the combination which comprises a plate having asubstantially semi-circular edge with a flange forming part of a groove,substantially semi-circular in cross section extended from one sideedge, a lever providing a stationary hand-1e extended from said body, abracket having an arcuate tube holding extended end also mounted on saidbody, a toothed ratchet wheel rotata-bly mounted on said body andpositioned with the axis thereof on the center of the radius of thesemi-circular edge of the body, an arm having spaced rollers rotatablymounted on an extended end thereof and removably mounted on said ratchetwheel, a hand lever pivotally mounted on the body and extendedtherefrom, a pawl pivotally mounted on the hand lever and positioned toengage teeth of the ratchet wheel, a spring mounted on the hand leverand positioned to engage the pawl to urge the pawl into engagement withthe teeth of the ratchet wheel, and an attachment including a platehaving a substantially semi-circular flange, arcuate in cross section,extended from one side and mounted on said body for forming a tube bendof a larger radius, said groove of the plate of the attachment beingadapted to coact with rollers of the arm removably mounted on theratchet wheel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

